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3.49 AVERAGE
3.49 AVERAGE
Two points. One, this is a very long book, over 600 pages of tiny print, it took me weeks to read and I generally finish a book in days. Two, it is NOT a thriller, by any stretch of anyone's imagination. I wouldn’t even describe it as crime fiction, because the crime is very much in the background.
But, if you’re interested in Japanese culture and you're a fan of police procedural novels than this might be the book for you. Its a slow build novel about two connected crimes fourteen years apart but it’s more an exploration of corruption in the Japanese police force than it is a detective story - and that is fascinating if you have the patience for it.
But, if you’re interested in Japanese culture and you're a fan of police procedural novels than this might be the book for you. Its a slow build novel about two connected crimes fourteen years apart but it’s more an exploration of corruption in the Japanese police force than it is a detective story - and that is fascinating if you have the patience for it.
Hideo Yokoyama's Sixty Four is one of the most unusual police procedural murder mystery books I have ever read. I was intrigued immediately, with the combination of the narrator Mikami's missing daughter and the seemingly cold case of a kidnapping and murder of a 7 year old girl.
My initial excitement slowed down with the slog of Japanese bureaucratic infighting and overly detailed discussion of how the Japanese police function. At page 200 I was almost ready to stop reading, especially as one mystery gets explained solely in terms of bureaucratic infighting. As a reader, I don't care about who is in charge of what in what division. But I wanted to know more about the other mysteries and was rewarded. The book requires some patience, including an avalanche of names, many of them quite similar in English (this is a translation so perhaps it is less confusing in the original). There is a brief list of main characters at the front, which is useful but far from comprehensive.
As you go, you will see how that back story matters to the bigger story about the kidnapping, which is far more interesting and driven by people rather than bureaucracies. I raced through the last 100 pages in particular but my interest had been re-engaged far before that. It's the beginning that requires real patience.
If, like me, you work somewhere in middle management within a large bureaucracy, you can identify with the hard work people do and how they want to do the right thing, how they deal with adversity, how they aspire to show their competence. The very end of the book reflects that as well.
But finally, and more importantly for me, there is real emotion in the book. As the father of two young daughters, I strongly identified with those who had lost theirs. So much of the plot made good sense to me as a result.
From http://weeksnotice.blogspot.com/2018/08/hideo-yokoyamas-sixty-four.html
My initial excitement slowed down with the slog of Japanese bureaucratic infighting and overly detailed discussion of how the Japanese police function. At page 200 I was almost ready to stop reading, especially as one mystery gets explained solely in terms of bureaucratic infighting. As a reader, I don't care about who is in charge of what in what division. But I wanted to know more about the other mysteries and was rewarded. The book requires some patience, including an avalanche of names, many of them quite similar in English (this is a translation so perhaps it is less confusing in the original). There is a brief list of main characters at the front, which is useful but far from comprehensive.
As you go, you will see how that back story matters to the bigger story about the kidnapping, which is far more interesting and driven by people rather than bureaucracies. I raced through the last 100 pages in particular but my interest had been re-engaged far before that. It's the beginning that requires real patience.
If, like me, you work somewhere in middle management within a large bureaucracy, you can identify with the hard work people do and how they want to do the right thing, how they deal with adversity, how they aspire to show their competence. The very end of the book reflects that as well.
But finally, and more importantly for me, there is real emotion in the book. As the father of two young daughters, I strongly identified with those who had lost theirs. So much of the plot made good sense to me as a result.
From http://weeksnotice.blogspot.com/2018/08/hideo-yokoyamas-sixty-four.html
It's possible that this becomes interesting at some point. I did not reach that point.
Went in with little other than a recommendation. Not quite what I expected: an engrossing, exhausting week in the racing, grasping mind of a Japanese police bureaucrat. Two implausible, intersecting police procedurals play out, mostly in the background, while departmental political maneuvering, prejudices and paranoia take the foreground.
slow-paced
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Six Four is an interesting insight into the bureaucratic works of the Japanese police system, but it is simply too long and spends too much time of subplots that are either less interesting or don't really go anywhere. By the time the central mystery is resolved, there aren't enough pages left to really help you understand what motivated the perpetrator or give a satisfying conclusion to the main character's missing daughter arc. Well written, but too backloaded.
A kidnapping? Fourteen years from the last? At this time of day? In this part of the country? Localised entirely to the Genbu region?
Yes.
May I tell the media about it?
…no.
Yes.
May I tell the media about it?
…no.
Whooo boy, this was an amazing ride from start to finish. This isn't a book that you can just skim over, attention to each and every detail must be made in order to put everything together.